Machine and Might
by SpazDragon
Summary: A single Sangheilian child is found by a group of elites who quickly adopt him, but many mysteries await the Sangheili as a new force arises that put the galaxy into terror. It's NOT the Flood. Mostly OCs. Post Halo 17 years.
1. Prologue

**I'm back and full of confidence, since my last attempt at a story sucked.**

Prologue

I woke up the moment they started yelling at each other. Giant monkeys lay outside the boundaries of the glass tube, growling and shouting curses at each other and physically hitting their brethren when approached with a fowl comment. I didn't know what they were saying, their voices muffled by the glass surrounding my encased body.

Attempting to hear them better, I scooted closer to the smooth glass. I lay my ear-hole over the clear, fragile substance.

"-then they tracked the position in the next sequence. I was in the group, and I managed to survive. I ran here, so that they wouldn't track me to our position. Then I realized they had drones positioned over the next camp. Then the next. All the camps were destroyed, drones placed in them." The Brute Officer took a grasp of breath to continue the story. He seemed rather calm, yet exhausted.

He pointed to a little metal casing on his leg, which protruded from his thigh. It beeped softly. "They shot me with their tool, of which I have no idea how it-"

"You incompetent fool! Has your little brain yet figured out what it is?"

"No, but-"

"It was rhetorical, fool! The tracking device has led to our position!" The bigger ape creature, clad in golden armor, screamed at the Brute Officer. His expression was horrifically fierce. He bared his teeth.

His hand stretched around the Brute officer's neck, and and spoke in a menacing tone. "May you not join the path for your mistake, for you are unworthy of the path." With such unimaginable force, the Brute Chieftain flung the poor Officer across the room.

He slammed into the wall, rather close to the tube I was in. The brute's corpse went limp, and a trail of crimson blood etched it's way through the glyphs on the old silver wall.

"I am taking all but the minors to help guard the artifact. The minors shall clean up this mess and protect this room." He spoke in a calmer, yet commanding, tone. "Lest the artifact not land in the Sangheili's hands, the Great Journey will only be farther from the Covenants clutches."

I pulled my head from the glass, as my brain nagged me with unanswerable questions.

Many things he said puzzled me. What was the Great Journey? The Covenant? Which Artifact do they mean? The only thing I recognized out of the whole conversation was the name of the species I came from.

Most of the brutes left the room, while a few stayed behind. They shared conversations. Told stories about their pack. Even examined their weapons to see if they were calibrated.

As they did their activities, I looked around the room curiously. I recognized it from before I was imprisoned in the tube. Sleek gray walls covered in glyph I vaguely remembered. The other purple equipment was new, probably brought in by these creatures that now reside here.

A single word floated at the edge of my mind, echoing through my thoughts, haunting me even while I was in this moment of curiosity. Forerunner. I had no idea what the word meant, nor anything else. Could all this, where I was, be Forerunner?

I probably shouldn't bother with it. Maybe these apes didn't know I was here, trapped in a glass tube.

I attempted to scream to the brutes, but no word came out. My throat strained and squeezed. Not a whisper.

The only thing I did was wait, and wait. I could hear the conversations now. The brutes laughed at each other, having a good time. They seemed like nothing but good spirited, hearty barbarians. Except when I looked into their eyes, the way they talked, and there physical movements, those seemed like lies. Something in them spoke pure hatred, but for something.

Something like me.

First, they were smiling, than they were frowning really hard. They were staring at the door that the chieftain had left a while ago. They pulled up their weapons and aimed it a the door.

The door, of course, was sealed tight. But it wouldn't be for long, My conscience spoke to me. It was a voice I didn't recognize. Well, I didn't have the spirit to say anything about it now.

Out of nowhere, a bright amount of sparks appeared in the crack of the door. It slid down the opening slowly. When it reached the bottom, it fizzled out.

There was a long second. The brutes shifted their positions steadily. The grips around their alien rifles tightened.

Blam!

The door pieces flew across they room, followed by a shock-wave and lots of smoke. Then hell poured out of the door. Colorful bolts of plasma and flashing swords whizzed through the air.

The brutes fired back into the opening. Screams of pain came from both sides.

Then, there was silence. The smoke cleared, and in the middle of a pile of burning brute corpses, stood a group of unknown beings.

Tall and athletic, with gray skin and four mandibles on every warrior. They looked like me, how I would see myself in the reflection of the glass tube, except without the colorful, striking armor.

"Search the room thoroughly. Feedback from our Luminary showed the artifact around this position." The tallest, golden armored one ordered. He deactivated his sword and inspected the room, along with others whom he seemed to command.

One of the Sangheili walked towards the glass tube I was imprisoned in. He seemed to sniff the air, looking grudgingly at the glass. He cocked his head sideways, and bent down at the tube. He turned on his light, placed on his shoulder, which blinded me, causing me to have a moment of blindness.

His voice spoke up, or actually, SHE. "Commander, I think I've found something." The calm, feminine words soothed my ears, like I had never heard such pleasure before.

The golden elite approached me and the female. "Step aside, Resa. Let me have a look at it." He stuck his face down to look in to the tube. Why, it's mere child! He looked at me quizzically, then a his mandibles curled into a smile. "Find a way to pull the young boy out."

The elites rushed to find a control panel to the tube. Luckily, they did, and they typed a series of codes intothe panel.

I looked around to see the glass move upward, disappearing from view. A putrid, burning smell entered my nostrils. I coughed at the bitterness.

The female reached her hands down and plucked me up from the tube. She was a lot larger than me, and could easily fit me in one hand. She then looked at the commander expectantly.

"Fine, we can keep him." He said in his commanding deep voice. He pulled me from her warm arms. "We will deliver you to the ship little one. For now, I shall just name you, for you appear to be orphaned." He seemed to run a list of Ideas through his head. His eyes widened when he got the perfect name. "I shall name you Ki Nomad'ee, after my family's ancestor." The female and male looked at me like I was something new and special.

A loud boom broke the calm, happy silence. "Sir, Brutes are coming in from dropships. Reports say they have skirmishers as well." One of the minors chimed in.

"Resa, carry the child to the ship. I will stay behind and search for the artifact."

She protested. "I do not want to leave you."

"No, but I want the young's life to be safe." He gave her a hug, then kissed her on the cheek. "May honor protect you and the child's life."

She attempted to utter words, but she only turned around. She ran for the door, carrying me in her arms. I felt like I had been some new, precious toy being carried by a little girl. I was snug in her warm, rather skyscraper arms.

She ran down hallway after hallway, and glyphs whizzed by. The whole place was like a maze. The journey seemed to take forever.

Finally, we approached a gargantuan door. She reached one of her hand onto the holographic door pane, and pressed a bright, glowing circle.  
The ground shook as the tall silver doorways moved aside. What was outside it was surprising and scary.

Smoke clouds drifted overhead, corpses lay about. Thunder and bright flashes flew from one end of the canyon to the other.

Across a large platform, dropships were landed, but warming up for taking off. Resa ran to one of the dropships. The phantom still had it's hatch open. She hopped inside, just as the door closed.

An Elite Major Domo was standing inside looking at her quizzically. "Where is the rest of your group?"

"They stayed behind to look for the artifact," she said, her voice dropping in fatigue and sorrow. She and I shared the same feeling. They weren't going to make it if they stayed any longer.

"The ship's Luminary detected the artifact coming towards this location at a fast pace a few minutes ago. But I wasn't carrying the artifact, and the group wasn't right behind me. She seemed puzzled. Unless-" Both the female and the questioning Elite looked at me worried.

"Contact the group, tell them that we already have our 'Artifact'," the Major Domo screamed to the communications officer that set next to the pilot of the Phantom.

The Major then looked back at Resa and I. "Well, I guess we have one special child here, don't we?"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Oh, training. You have to love it.

Throughout the first Seventeen years of my life, I only managed to learn so much. Yet, even now I love the moments where its rather...intense. The moments where if you feel like if you don't fire that last bullet, your life will go down the drain. Even training was like that; 'always have to impress my superior officer.

I am a Minor Domo, as rank indicated by navy blue armor and an insignia. Only so far, my training has brought me the practical ability to use general arms from the Covenant. The chance to wield a rare or valuable weapon was slim, since being certain ranks restricted your use from other powerful items.

The training room was simple, yet complex arena. The area was none more than silver, covered in platforms and bridges. A single geometrical ditch ran through the center. Two towers sat in each corner of the large room, where snipers usually liked to camp and perch. I couldn't remember the name of the map because of all the fun I was having.

I sat behind a tomb-stone shaped pillar ejecting from the ground, so as to avoid getting shot with live plasma from the human opponents' ballistics fire. My teammates had captured the South tower, and rained terror down to the enemies with Beam rifles and Focus Rifles. The enemy Spartan IVs jumped from tombstone to tombstone avoiding fire, but the were to slow to dodge the energy projectiles.

I pulled myself out of cover and fired three bolts of plasma at an enemy trying to make for the ditch in the middle. His white armor seemed to blind me for a second, but I ignored it. I nicked the human on the foot, where it stiffened and rendered it useless. While he had fallen I shot him two times in the chest and one on the neck.

The training scorecard pinged, and the status showed the human as dead. Lovely. I myself rolled across the ground and landed in the ditch. I ran to the far end, and used the bridges of the gaps as cover.

I pulled myself out of the trench to see if any enemies had been coming from the forest of tombstones. No traces of enemies appeared on the motion tracker. Nothing.

I was prepared to jump out of the hole, when suddenly, I saw a muzzle flash on the Northern tower. Instead of ducking back into it, I hopped out of the trench and ran as fast as my legs could carry me.

Four loud cracks of thunder rolled through the air, and behind me were thrice holes the size of human ears, each pacing my every step. Where had the fourth one gone?

I immediately caught the sensation of what seemed like a giant tentacle squeezing my foot. The armor had locked where the last bullet shot me. I tripped over my useless foot.

I slammed my face into the cold, hard steel. The training shield buffered most of the fall damage, but I still felt like molten plasma had been poured over my bottom mandible.

"Ain't fast enough, are ya' split-lip?" The Spartan IV taunted over the communications channel. I looked over at him only to see a black armored figure on one of the towers.

"You will regret underestimating me, demon." I pulled my rifle up over me and slashed the weapon through the air. I pulled the trigger under careful timing. There was a one out of endless chance that I could strike the human, but never should I tell myself the odds.

The blue, tear-drop shaped bolt flew over the distance of the map. The travel was short, but it ended miraculously. It hit the human square in the forehead, just as he was pulling the trigger. The suit of armor he wore stiffened as well, and the Spartan IV slumped to the floor. The scorecard pinged. He was dead as well.

He, however, was only one of eight opponent Spartan IVs left on the map. My brethren, including I, had only taken out four enemies in the first two minutes. There was only six of us left out of eight.

A human made the foolish choice of taking one of the catwalks that were structured above my head. The human grunted when the a sword appeared out of nowhere, and the flat of it landed on the back of his neck.

My best friend, Riondi, had taken the human down after coming out of Active Camouflage. He quickly turned to jump off the bridge. However, I saw a blur in the air where a human was about to do the same to the elite with a combat knife.

I fired a burst of plasma up at the spot in the air where I had seen the bulge of nothingness. The Spartan appeared out of the clear, and grunted as the blue plasma hit him. He fell off the bridge, and landed on the metal floor below. He had blue armor, and a symbol matching that of a pair of swords over a hawk.

The Minor Domo Sangheili had realized what had gone on so quickly behind his back. "Thanks Ki. I see you're in a sharp-shooter mood today, huh?"

"Don't mention it Riondi. Remember, I'm just here to impress the females." I said into the communications channel.

Riondi's chuckles sounded in my ear. "You sound like a human."

"Meh, I grew into it." Practically true, since I've spent most of my life scouting old cities abandoned by humans. I watch the curious little picture box I found for a while. Guess I can learn a lot from what the humans call "Television".

"You might want to look behind you." Riondi warned.

I followed his instructions, and looked behind me across the ditch, where more humans had grouped together to take me out. They sprayed bullets that bounced off my training shielding. The bullets counted as "uncritical", so I wasn't counted as badly wounded.

Riondi and I fired back at the Spartans, he using a Needle rifle, and I using the Plasma Rifle. However, the humans had spread out along the metal pillars, cleverly using them as cover.

Oh, and the other Elites I mentioned earlier? They were all filing in behind the Spartans and taking them out one by one. One had a fuel Rod Cannon, and was making use of the explosive rounds to end the human's "lives". Two more elites made use of Focus rifles and Carbines to wipe out most of the other Spartans. An elite attempted to take out the last Spartan, but failed.

He was punched all the way across the training room, where he thudded against the far wall. The Spartan IV that had launched him, however, was bigger than any I've ever interpreted before He wore deep green armor, and a symbol of rebels. All the Sangheili opened fire on the larger human, but he seemed immune to the onslaught of fire.

While the the Spartan was distracted, Riondi had run over to me a revived me from my armor lock.

I stood up, and shook off the tense feeling. Riondi and I looked at each-other, and nodded. The Spartan had just got done "killing" the other Sangheili, and so, he turned towards us.

We firmly press our feet to the ground. The demon prepared to lunge.

Like a bull, he rushed at our direction. I jumped left, while Riondi jumped right. The spread his hands out to grab our feet, but he was only a millisecond to slow. Next thing he knew, he had a face full of steel.

Before he could recover, both Riondi and I struck back with our swords. We hit him with blunt slashed along the back of his neck. His body petrified, at the same time the scorecard pinged.

The intercom came over. "Congratulations. All enemies have been defeated. Training session is concluded." It's tone was deep and robotic, albeit creepy. "To exit the room, please exit out of the doorway to the East. All trainees' armor locks have been disabled."

It lightened me to see all my teammates getting back up. When the Spartans got up, they came over to all of us as we grouped together. Not to taunt us, but to pass us all hand-shakes and tell us "Good game." We did the same back.

It was weird to see how Humanity and Our species' alliance come to great strides. Nobody was up against the others' necks with a sword. Politics were settled along time ago, and the fairing between the two species had been hearty.

So much change in Seventeen years.

* * *

Riondi sat atop a supply crate in the hangar. I sat idly in the seat of a deactivated Ghost.

The hangar was wide and spacious, with a giant blue shielding covering one end of the hangar. It revealed a magnificent view of Earth's skyline as the sun edge closer to the rim of night.

A Spirit dropship pulled into the hangar and unloaded it's troops. A group of Grunts who came out decided to sit down a squawk away in one of the corners of the hangar.

The deep purple walls and blue lighting was awkwardly relaxing. The floor was piled over with crates full of supplies and ammo. I sat with my leg propped on top of a small ammo canister full of Fuel Rods.

One of the doors chimed, and a group of Spartan IVs walked out. Their armor ranged in many colors, and their shoulders each carried a unique symbol. These were the Spartans we fought earlier in the training room.

They were probably here to wait for a pelican dropship to come pick them up. The entire group sat beside us. Some fidgeted, some talked; anything to keep them from getting bored.

A blue colored Spartan walked up to me and Riondi. "My name is Chaz-084 of the Spartan IV program."

"So I guess you were sent here to train, am I right?" Riondi asked.

"Yes. Our production was a little...off. The doctors inserted us with mixes of augmentations so that we were better fighters." Chaz said. "Apparently, we are only the experiments of the program, and the real meat of the act comes after we've had a series of perfect tests."

"So your team losing this time meant that you haven't succeeded yet?" I said.

"Well, sorta." He seemed to drift from the subject this time. "I want to introduce my team to you, if we ever meet again."

He pointed to a few members of his group. A single black and red spartan ran up to Chaz. Chaz patted him on the back. "This is my brother, Phil-600. He's really oh-six-oh, but he's really picky and somewhat spoiled. He was the one that sniped you earlier." The final thing he said was directed to me.

"Hey, guys. You can see that my brother is ruining my life right now." Phil said, then huphed.

"Just sit back down." Phil went back. Chaz pointed to another set of Spartans, who ran up in unison. "This is Al," he pointed at the green one. He was the one who acted like a bull. "Wes," he then pointed at the white one in the middle. I guessing he was the one who tried to jump into the hole.

"and Seth." This one had blood red armor. I didn't see him anywhere on the map. He probably sat out during practice.

"I probably won't introduce you to the rest of the team, since there is too little time." Chaz said. He sent the Spartans he introduced back. "I'm just telling you now for if things get nasty in the future."

I heard a roar of engines in the distance, and it quickly got closer. At that moment, a Pelican had turned from under the corner of the Hangar door, and landed within the hangar. The hum of the engines filled the hangar. All the Spartans stood up and walked to the Pelican. Chaz-084 turned back to a and yell.

"If you ever need us, just give us a call!" he got on the Pelican and the it left the hangar, leaving the it eerily quiet.

After moments of silence, which seemed like a half-cycle, Riondi looked at the landscape funny. "Do you always believe in a place where people never experience war? A paradise where no tension built up just because of the smallest opinions?" he seemed to be directing the question towards me.

"Huh. I never really think about that." I started thinking. "You know, no matter where you go, there is always conflict. Even in paradise," I said, making a point. "because there is such thing as 'too much paradise'."

It was puzzling as to why Riondi would ask such a question. We were born of a race who was bred to kill and fight in battle. Then again, even some of these type of people got sick of war.

The Minor Domo looked at me for an answer to his question, as if I were some mystical artifact. "I don't know Riondi, just be happy with the life you have and get over it."

He looked slightly disappointed for a moment, then cleared his expression.

He fiddled with one of the crystal Blamite shards in his rifle. "I just dream and wonder."

"Me too buddy." I looked out across the sunset. The sky started becoming a fiery orange. "Me too."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_I stared down at my fuzzy hands. Jirilhanae hands that were coated in sweat, shaking with fear._

_My fellow pack had the same feeling; I could tell by the hormones that came off my pack's skin. Misery, terror, overall...fear._

_They were afraid that the same thing would happen again._

_The outbreak of everyone's fears and nightmares. The Flood._

_We all looked up into the sky to see stars popping up around the planet the facility orbited._

_Across the land only remained desert and rock, with very little running water. This made a poor environment for most species, and so, they don't live here._

_Ahead of us was a cave entrance; tall, looming, and impossibly designed. Yet here it is, the entrance into a place no beast has gone before. All that was through the entrance was silky darkness, and silent wind that drifted out.  
_

_We walked in, and not a word was said._

I awoke immediately. That was one rather...odd dream. It was too real.

The smells and scenery, things that enveloped my soul whenever I took a step. The brute's hands that had replaced mine. something wasn't right.

For now, I might let this slide. But if it happens again, I'm calling my agent. Wait, do I even have an agent? What is an agent?

Bah. My mind has had too much to settle with the human television set. The world becomes confusing when you realize that humans are more creative than your own species.

My shoulders ached, and my limbs were tense. I slept in an uncomfortable position throughout most of the night.

In fact, it was still dark, but my eyes adjusted to see through the black. I saw fellow warriors sleeping around the room, laying in there beds like every night in a barracks.

I turned on the adjustable light that was above my head in my bunk, so that I could at least see the crystal datapad I had been given my parents.

I pressed the power button so that the thing would turn on. I'd used it before, and a lot of interesting pictures were shown on it.

Times after my parents had adopted me, taught me first how to fight, showed me the beach in the partnered states of Hruhom' and Lokji', even our own Nomad' state.

I met Riondi at the academy between Shushram' and Nomad' states. We became good friends, and bragged our own ways of attracting females, or eating enough snacks that would kill a deer even. We weren't that popular because both of our parents weren't as well known as other Sangheili, like those who descended from Vadum' state nearby. None of this matters to me now.

I put the datapad away underneath my pillow, hoping nobody would really see it and become nosy enough to snoop in it.

My shoulders were too achy for me to accomplish going back to sleep.

I stared at the clock. Time showed two cycles before sunrise. Why not stay awake?

I got up from my bed, ignoring as to making it, and headed for the locker room.

* * *

I stepped through the silent corridor, my bare feet slapping footsteps that echoed through the hallways.

My robe was tucked around me, clothing in my hands, and a weapon just in case.

In fact, I rarely carry a weapon around the ship. But something, a feeling, was nagging me to get the weapon. Or maybe I was freaked out by that dream.

Really. Having hands for a brute? Maybe it was just a normal dream.

But it felt like just I flashed into another person's mind and saw what they saw, smelt what they smelt. Felt what they felt. Horror.

My mind drifted back to reality, and I noticed that I just missed the door to the locker room. So I walked back to open it and walk in.

Of course no one was in it, I think.

The door hummed and opened, the chime reminding of whenever I hear females walk into a spa. That isn't manly, _dude_.

I peered around, and obviously enough nobody was in there.

I was really here to take a shower and think. The showers were simple little stalls surrounded my bright blue metals and stone. The overhead faucet resembled the compound eye of an insect. A glass stretched up as a door that opened, with the top right above where my full hight reaches.

I set my stuff down, took off my robe, and got in one of the showers. I turned the faucet to let the warm water run down my body.

My mind kept drifting back to the dream I had. It was short, yet scary enough. Brutes who were going to embark on a maddening journey. I was one of them.

I was practically going insane. The things I had seen are probably figments of my dream and imagination. Nothing wrong there.

I set my head on the wall, and watched as water ran down my brows and along the walls down to my two toed feet.

Thoughts, thought, and many thoughts flashed through my memory. I had the feeling an hour had passed, and was ready to get out.

I opened the glass slowly, and steam drifted out of the stall. Outside the door however, was a surprised expression, and a pair a curious eyes.

A female, only two inches below my own height, was outside the stall carrying her own clothes to what would have been the stalls around this one. she herself was in a gown that could have probably been taken off with the untying of a single string, most likely for bathing or showering purposes.

One thing I had forgotten to mention was that this locker room was _uni-sex_. I should have chosen wisely for a locker room that fit better for warriors, but that one was _conveniently _farther away from our Barracks.

She flushed when she had looked down at my whole body, and attempted to utter words. I imagine this have happened to _many_ people before.*

"So...um, do you shower this early?"

After looking at me for a second, which sort-of ruins my dignity a bit, responded. "Almost every morning..."

"'You mind fetching me my towel? It's starting to feel cold in here."

* * *

I sat on the wooden bench that ran parallel to the rows of lockers along the wall. One of the had my name, and it was standing open while I reached in and grabbed my under-suit.

I was pulling the suit up my legs when I heard a question come from one of the showers.

"So, what is your name?" She said, her voice cutting through the moist air.

"Ki...Ki 'Nomad." I said to her. We were talking to each other from the distance, and some words were unheard through the sound of her running shower.

"You're from the 'Nomad family? The one by the shore next to our state?"

"That depends, is your state named what?"

"Shushram'"

"Hey best friend's last name is Shushram'. Of course he's from there."

"I might know him. What is his name?"

"Riondi."

There was a beep from the sound of the water controls being pressed. The sound of running water stopped. I heard her continue to speak. "Riondi's my brother. Bloodline speaking."

"I think he's mentioned you a few times before." I watched the female step out of the shower and pull on a robe. "Was it Brush...no, wait, Rue 'Nuss,...no..."

"It's R'sruss." She stepped over to her own locker. She tapped in a key code with her slender fingers. She used the other hand to clutch her robe to prevent it from falling. Inside the locker was Minor armor, fit for only Covenant military personnel.

I observed her for a bit as she put on the under-suit. She had Emerald Green eyes, a slender frame, and was muscular for that of a female. Her skin was Slate colored, and her mandibles had equal length with perfect rows of sharp teeth. Her neck perfect and serpent like, where it coiled around to fit the suit on.

She realized I was staring at her, and turned to me right after she had pulled up the skin-tight suit. she cocked her head sideways, and looked at my side. "Turn please." She said, rather serious. i was hoping she wasn't going to look at me rear.

"Where did you get that tattoo?"

"What tattoo?" I looked around where my long flexible neck could see what she was talking about.

There, on my skin, was a blue intricate, circular design over my gray hide.

* * *

*This is basically a reference to other people out there who may have used a similar theme.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I observed the symbol more closely. It was reminiscent to a bulls-eye,with pieces of the outer circle cut out a 3, 6, and 9 'o'clock positions from a human clock. I had never seen it before, nor did I want a tattoo at all. It just bugged me that something would appear out of nowhere.

Even more suspicious was that it appeared after that snip-it of a 'dream'. Was it a coincidence? Had it been something else that drove the fact that there is now a marking on my back?

Rsruss had told me that I should probably meet her and her brother out in the mess hall, our only source of food on this ship. She left right after she had put her armor on, while I went back to the Barracks, sitting on my bed and looking at my datapad.

The picture of my parents glowed from the electronic device in my hand. They had been the two people who cared for me after that found me in that place.

I never knew the name of it, and nobody probably ever will.

My mom, Resa, held me in her arms, while my father and trainer, Hora 'Nomad, were both holding my toddler aged body in both of their arms. The both nuzzled each other in the shot, and my face looked up at them smiling. All three of us wore robes that were sewn to resist the smoldering environment. In the background was something like a boardwalk, and the ocean beside it stretched out to the horizon, where it met the sun as it set, releasing a golden glow over the backs of my parents and I.

I hold the image in front of my face a few seconds longer.

Then, I heard Riondi's voice above me. "You know, the more you look at that, the more you will want to go back home."

"You're the only one who knows I want to go back home. Where the fight will never be, in a place where fight has never been in a decade."

"The place still has war and discrimination over honor. It wouldn't be right if you expected it to be a place 'without fighting'."

"You know what I mean." I put the datapad back underneath the pillow. I looked at Riondi. "I met your sister last night." Well, it was actually this morning, but I don't want a lot of people knowing I have this one dream. My mind had been automatically set for keeping it a secret.

"Huh. Well, I was going to eat with her in the mess hall. I guess you can sit with us."

"She's already promised that to me."

"Then this is a special case..." He jumped out of his bed, then prepared his stuff for his trip to the showers.

Most of the Sangheili were just now getting up, yawning and stretching while other went to the locker rooms.

After everyone left, at sat alone on my bed for a bit.

Riondi's words drifted in my head. _Then this is a special case._

Had he been suggesting something like...a date? In the morning?

Meh, I'll just put that on my 'forget' list. I got up and headed to the mess hall to get me some grub.

* * *

I put the piece of fried egg into between my mandibles, and let the tastiness course over my flavor glands. Who could live without a tongue?

Rsruss sat across from me, playing with her food or taking a bite of the eggs every whole minute. Riondi just stuffed it all down and headed for the control room where most of his duty had been achieved.

The food the humans had delivered to us were a lot better than what we were given as rations throughout the early Covenant. After the humans settled back onto their restored home worlds, they started to find they had more than they needed.

Especially on Harvest, they had found that after all the agriculture had been burned, what was left behind was fertile soil. Reach was being reseeded, and earth itself was restoring it's monuments.

I put my focus back Rsruss, and was hoping to spark some sort of conversation. "So, what do you know about your brother?"

"I can tell you the most embarrassing thing he did." Rsruss looked up from her breakfast, leaving her fork remaining in what the humans call 'hash browns'. "One time, he had a crush on this new type of rifle, the Beam Assault Rifle. It was new and effective, yet it wasn't very popular in the Covenant. So to spread it's fame, he danced in front of a crowd of people singing about the rifle. A guy through a fruit at him, where he slipped and fell.

His robe got caught on a hook, and it fell off, revealing his Spongebob underwear." She smiled, revealing what she believed to be a humorous story. I snickered thinking about how Riondi would look in name brand iconic underclothes, except the outcome was slightly disturbing. "Our father had to punish him by making him stand in the front yard wearing nothing but the same pair of underwear for four day, only coming in to eat and sleep."

"Sounds pretty harsh." I said. I imagined what it would have been like to be me out there, in a dress like that.

"Actually, compared to other punishments, it isn't." Her eyes drooped back down to her plate. "After genocide can even occur for the simplest and smallest things. Death of family, wars on other states."

Her voice lowered. "What we did to the humans."

"For a race of Warriors, it's still hard to go on without making an example. But, yeah, it's pretty harsh."

Rsruss looked at me. "I have to go meet my new group, they should be waiting for me in the hangar." She stood up. "So long." She walked over to throw away her trash, and she stepped out the automatic door. I thought I saw her look at me for a quick second before disappearing out the doors.

I took my last bite of egg, then threw away the scraps from my plate. I set the plate down where they had to be washed.

I wanted to go somewhere quiet where I could think.

* * *

_I saw the flickering red orb, symbol flashing over and over, the world burning, and everyone I knew dead._

_The eerie voice came. "Welcome Ki. I see we have a meeting before the next Bustle of business arrives." The language it spoke was of-course, mine, Sangheilian. Yet the voice of croaky and human sounding, and parts of words were stressed the wrong way, like whatever it was, it was uncomfortable with this level of speech._

"_You will change the lives of those around you. Your actions will determine the fate of the universe you live in. You are, as some might say, 'special', and your talents will serve you in great deed." it stopped, taking what seemed like a long breath. "It seems that your time is near, but I'm not at liberty to say what it is."_

"_Sorry for the quick..leaving, but I have business elsewhere in more universes." There was a hint of smile in his voice. "Now, let the chaos...begin."_

_The voice was gone, and the world around me was dark. The red orb had disappeared, and my symbol stopped flickering._

_The world returned, except it was angular, silver, and covered in glyphs._

_I looked down once again at my Jirilhanae hands, which held a Spiker loaded full of ammunition._

_I had just went through a door, along with my pack mates, that led into a large circular room, with a beam of light going down the middle onto a computer terminal. We'd traveled upon miles to reach this one thing, and here it was, right in front of us._

_One of my fellow brutes looked at the terminal. "Are you sure that's what we are looking for?"_

"_It is the control to release our ancient guardians, where they have kept their artifacts held so that it was reserved for the right time. Now is the time." The Chieftain said, and he approached the terminal._

"_I have a terrible feeling about this." Said one of the brutes. "I can smell it from other peoples' skins."_

"_Chieftain, why must we do this now?" Another brute asked._

"_The Great Journey will have been void without the Artifacts." The Chieftain said. He stepped up to the panel, and pressed a sequence of buttons. "Now, of they will keep trying to stop us, where we have failed, they will have to resort to different matters once we have the Artifacts."_

"_Now, shall the path to the Great journey continue, and let the light of our lords shine upon all worlds, destroying all nonbelievers!" He pressed the final button, and the room went silent._

_Nothing happened. The Brute's face turned to raging disappointment. He slammed down on the keyboard, where it broke through and shattered._

_Then a voice came over us in a language we never knew._

_A noise sounded to our right, at the edge of the room. It sounded like a whir, then an electrical beep. We turned to it, but we saw nothing. Something was in the shadows._

_Then, something jumped out of the darkness, and latched onto on of the brutes. It shot lasers through him, and the smell of cooked flesh quickly drifted off the body._

_Next, more appeared, and we were swarmed in small, spider-like things that shot lasers through each of us._

_Then, something large and metallic rammed the chieftain, and the Chieftain was shot._

_Something jumped at me, and latched over my face. I couldn't see or breath, nor scream when it started drilling into my face._

I slammed into the floor, and felt pain along my side. Everyone jumped up when they heard me thud.

The covers were tangled around my body, and a sticky layer of sweat drenched my form.

I stills saw the images in my head. Whatever the things were, something was going to happen.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I had my communications device on for a reason. I expected to call Rsruss, tell her what's happened, and hoped to get it over with.

My side was bruised, and I attempted to not put pressure on it. However, thanks to Sangheili healing techniques, it was better to let it treat itself and not feel the pain anymore.

Riondi fiddled with the back of his plasma rifle, jerking the back of it open over and over again, trying to pry the battery out. Other people in the group talked liked nothing had happened, like no danger was going on.

Was I the only one that knew? Was it a hallucination?

That was my second "dream", similar to the last one. Only longer, deeper.

What were those things? They seemed so...familiar. And the language, it was like trying to speak to a foreigner except forgetting what to say.

The lounge was a collection of couches in a little quiet area, with proper carpeting. The walls were a modern light brown, the ceiling speckled with advanced lighting. A giant window overlooking the void of space and the edges of planets gave a sense of scale. How small you were compared to the world.

It was peaceful, but it wasn't peaceful enough. The stress, the nausea. I got no sleep, or barely got any. Every single time I moved, Riondi would jump at me expecting me to do something dangerous. Many had suggested I ate too much junk food.

The door at the edge of the room hummed open, and in stepped in the Major Domo Yin Brassam'. He overlooked all of us, and stood before us all. We all stood at attention in a straight row.

His shape was much too buff, and his legs were longer than any I've ever seen. He towered above us, seeming casting a shadow into our hearts and dignity. He voice was commanding and quick, and he rasped whenever somebody did something he didn't like.

"I have come here to inform you your next new mission." He looked at us from left to right. "We are heading to an outpost near the planet that humans have named new Kilo, not to be confused with Kholo. We will protect the sight while another group investigates the planet."

I took in every word, hoping that these were pieces to a puzzle that weren't connected to mine. "Intelligence detected that a group of Covenant Loyalists have come to this location. We tracked them until they entered a structure in Sector 15 in the Northern hemisphere. We lost signal after they entered a structure in the center of the sight."

My body stiffened. My head perked up and my head left it's half-sleep mode. The points clicked into place; had I seen something from this?

"Again, we will protect a nearby sight while the other group investigates." He looked at the door, which opened at the same time. In stepped in a group of Elites that had been prepared to travel with us. One of them was Rsruss.

I felt a squeezing feeling in my gut, my instincts told me, begged me to tell her, and keep her from going.

"Thankfully, if anything goes wrong, a few of you will be sent to investigate as well." The Major looked at the groups, and waved us out of the room. "Load up on the Dropships. We are leaving immediately to a smaller ship."

As we walked out of the lounge area, Rsruss looked at me. She had a worried look. That was her reaction from the news of my night, and a comeback to my saddened face.

* * *

Each of us stood in rows while in the Phantom. Of course, they let us sit due to the true amount of space in the dropship, but being an Elite called for organization and seriousness.

I actually stood behind Rsruss, in front of her, Riondi. She looked left and right at our fellow brethren, all appearing to have something going on individually. She curved her head around to face me, her neck curling like a great snake. Her green eyes looked as if they were seeking answers. All I did was shrug.

I felt that I should be quiet about this thing, especially when people looked at me like I was a threat them, even if I did nothing to them. Was it really even that dishonoring to have a nightmare, fall out of bed, and wake up with everybody staring at you?

For only one thing, could I even be trusted? Something about Rsruss was something that made me think she trusted me, yet I'm not sure completely. She put one of her hands on my shoulder, and I feel warm all of a sudden. Was she actually comforting me?

We all perk up when we here voices from the front of the Phantom. Then the same voice comes over the radios in our ear. "We are approaching Covenant Frigate _Petite Deliverer_. They shall carry us to the intended mission shortly."

I tilt sideways to see past everyone and into the cockpit. On the screens, and large purple, metallic mass starts growing out of the darkness of space. I wouldn't be much larger than a human UNSC destroyer. Very few Plasma torpedo Launchers were on the surface of the bulbous shape. The only other feature was point-defense lasers. Smaller ships floated silently around the ship itself. The purple glow of the hangar door was what illuminated our ship as we approached it.

After a few minutes, our Phantom was settled within the hangar, my fellow troops had unloaded and stayed in the lounge of the ship. We just sat around and talked about what could come to our minds. Rsruss brought up the interesting subject of using up fossil fuels, but even if she was pretty, I was too achy to really pay attention.

Rsruss pardoned herself to go to the restroom. I guess I had to go too, really to try and find an available snack machine for human guest passengers. I looked out in the hallway outside the Lounge, and looked both ways. Since I was new to the ship, I probably wouldn't be able to find anything without getting lost. But some things were worth the risk.

I waltzed down the barely populated hallways, few people and creatures walking by. Another hallway around the corner, and I saw the grand goal of my quest: the treasured snack machine. I learned how to operate most human machinery after watching a bit of that "TV". Hopefully, they took Sangheilian credits.

Of course it did, so I inserted a few credits, typed in the key, and my chosen snack, a pack of Cheetos.

The bar that pulled it out started spinning and swirling. The delicious snack was about to flop to the bottom of the machine for my taking...

It stopped, and the bag hadn't fallen yet. It got jammed. I growled in frustration.

I decided that to get it out, I would have to force it out. I tipped the machine towards me, and the bag leaned forward, only to get stuck between the machine and the glass.

I spent about the next five minutes trying anything: Tilting it, shaking it, screaming at it, even attempting to bang it. I had about given up all hope.

I put my hand up against the side of the irritating contraption. How dare they release such an item of little to useless worth?

All, of a sudden, I felt a sting of static electricity poke my finger. It was surprising, yes, but obviously painless. Then, what seemed like a miracle, then machine continued to spin the Cheetos out.

It banged the bottom of the machine, where I reached through a flap, and put my hands around the Cheesy Goodness. I tore the top open and started munching down on the human food.

I walked back down the hall towards the lounge again, only hearing the sound of the machine sputtering and shooting out the snacks. The whirring of machines grinding.

Wait a second...

* * *

**Just so you know, i will be delivering the next set of chapters in a big package so I can get caught up and motivated.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's note: The story is just barely alive, but hey, it's still breathing! Also, I wasn't too happy with the last chapter. Hopefully I will have time to improve it later on.**

**I was half asleep when I was writing it. Don't judge me.**

**THIS PROJECT IS NOT DEAD. It's just really slow. (Thanks to Minecraft, Youtube, and Ace of Spades, and because I'm lazy.) Also, I will attempt to improve my overall writing drastically. If only people gave me some criticism and tips. -_-**

**Now, on to the Chapter!**

Chapter 5

It was a...weird occurrence. Authority had been contacted-thankfully I wasn't in trouble-and investigated the machine malfunction. They said that it was nothing but a mini surge in Electricity that powers the machine, which nearly exploded.

I'm confused. About everything. The tattoo, the surge, other stuff like my dreams. Were they tied together, links to a greater answer?

I stayed alone on the lent bed in the Barracks for a bit.

I felt a throbbing pain in my temple. It quickly spread to my gut, and I felt like I could puke. There was dizziness, the world spinning in circles. Then the pain spread.

It felt like I was being tied in load of human electrical cables, electricity wrapping me like tendrils, then choking me into near unconsciousness. The pain was unbearable.

But I am Sangheili, I should take any pain thrown at me. It was only cowardice to run from a petty sting. Except only this was much more different. More powerful, gripping my mind like it wanted to extract what I knew, then bust out my eyes and ears.

The pain...it was something I'd never felt before.

Had they been feeding me drugs? Something I had gotten used to not even knowing it and giving me the human term "Cold Turkey"?

I finally felt calm. My hands were still. The pain eased, and I could finally relax from the stings. However, white lights flashed across my vision, obscuring it a slight bit. I still felt like the world was spinning in circles.

Then, I felt the touch of her hand on mine. Her fingers curled between them. She wanted me.

But what could I give Rsruss? I couldn't think clearly. What could I do?

"You know, it once we finally get to talk in private." Her fingers gripped, then slackened again. "After all that time, all we did was spend time away from each other. Walk away from each other on our own business. Now is a different time."

All I could do was mutter the words. "Did they know what happened? Did they fix it?"

"It's all fine. Except it was pretty funny seeing you try to stuff all of those snacks back in after they flopped right out."

"More like 'shot'." I felt they bed sink to the side, where I was guessing Rsruss sat down. I felt her hands run along my body in places that had contained the pain. Her hands rested on my cheeks.

"Rsruss, why is there pain?" I asked. The whole concept of pain was burning and aching throughout the body. A sign of danger that something had harmed an organic structure. But mental pain was a different story.

"I am not one to know the answer, but I always sense it. It will always tell the spilling of blood, the sense of possibly loneliness." She seemed to lean closer to me. I couldn't see her, but the bed tugged at the shift in weight. "There would always be pain."

I immediately felt a needle plunge into my skin harmlessly, in an area where it felt like the pain had subdued. Had she meant to harm me?

"Blood tests show that there is something cut off from the Average. What your body takes in regularly had been stopped. You were drugged." Duh.

"Well, since that is figured out, do you want to talk about something?" I blurted, obviously saying it sooner because I can't seem concentrate. I felt her smile in her voice.

"There will be a story to tell, but not quite yet." I felt her warm, soft hand slip into my covers and touched my tattoo. No, not in _that_ way.

Was she expecting that I could spawn an army and fight to live in a Battle Poem? Would I become the magnificent warrior told in ancient stories? Would I create a tale about how I was touched by a female on a mysterious tattoo? Was the tattoo tied to I didn't know about, but she knew?

She leaned down and nuzzled me right on my forehead. I didn't expect, but it made me feel a lot more confident, and...some other strange detailed feeling I can't describe to a young audience. Her breath, nice and fragrant, filled my nostrils. Her touch made fell comfortable.

Then she got up. I felt all my happiness sap away when picked up her hands and head. She nearly left without word. Where was the promise of staying with me?

"Don't worry. I'll be right back with one of the medics, they might find out whatever drug you were on and determine if it was fatal or not."

Great. Now she assigns a doctor of some sort to deal with me. Doctor were dishonored for shedding our blood through superstition. My theory, however, is that Sangheili are a bunch of wusses who are afraid of blood.

I wasn't afraid of blood, yet everyone will still make a big deal out of it and embarrasses me somehow. At least I won't let anyone know.

What had been the drug? Well, I don't even know. I would never know how it got into my system. It was a whole mystery.

I pulled my hand up a touched the ceiling of the bed. I felt the shimmer of the plasma and energy that fueled the ship for flight. The hum that would sooth me back to sleep.

I reached underneath the pillow to grab for my Data pad. Except I had forgotten we were on a different ship. I had accidentally left it behind. Flood-spawn.

Well, now I'd only have my memory to deal with. Do I remember anything suspicious that led to my state now?

Wait. I was an orphan. My parents explained to me I was found in some facility at a Jirilhanae head-quarters. They described the architecture as Forerunner. Everything after that was a flash.

Maybe that has something do with it. Forerunner. What we had thought had created the universe with there 'divine majesty'. But I don't know why there would be no answer to my questions. Even if I was in Forerunner Complex, I was still probably just held captive by the brutes. Simple as that.

I turned on my side and closed my eyes, drifting off into my dream state, where possibly things could only get worse.

_Before me was yet another void. I seemed to float, and thankfully I could move. What was this place?Was I having another one of my creepy dreams again._

_Then, I saw a figure standing before me. He was human, yet his sinister stair and body language made it seem like he...wasn't. He held the suitcase tightly in his hand. He straightened his tie, wiped off dust from his gray business suit. He stared me right in the eyes. His voice was all but creepy and gravely._

"_Time is closse, Sssangheili. You might not want to misss the opportunity to watch... let alone play thiss ...little challenge."_

_His voice matched the one in my other dream, of course stressing the wrong syllables._

"_What challenge?" I asked._

"_I am not at liberty to ssay, nor can I tell you about what my clientss have the opportunity of paying you. However, what you find along the path ahead may surprise you. What was ancient will return, and it's something that you would have been destined for."_

"_I'm not catching...you...uh...whuh?"_

"_Confused, you may be, but my time iss yet again short." he smirked. "I the meantime, this is where we meet last until...further notice." He turned away from me, and looked into the void. A white, rectangular door slid open out of nowhere in front of him. He walked through, and the door shut behind him._

_I was again left alone in this void._

_What the heck?_

"It was a stunning compound. It numbs specific locations throughout the nervous system. More importantly, it will make you forget long term memory when applied to the brain. Afterwards, the patient may, over the next few days when cut off, regain memory and may experience pain and depression."

"So what is it called?" Asked Rsruss to what could have been a Human medical doctor of some sort.

"They call it Forcimophene. It has had a history with being used on captives, criminals, and interrogated men. Many died as the effective medicine relieved the men of say, breathing or heart pumping." I looked up to see his face. He stood up straight in a white coat and a special machine in his hand. "It is very dangerous."

"So...is he okay?"

"Yes, it appears that the chemicals left no permanent damage, thankfully." I looked at the watch on his wrist, then looked back up to Rsruss. He blunted her with "Sorry, mam. I have business to attend to." he walked out the door silently. Rsruss scrunched up her brow in frustration, but managed to relax herself.

I looked at Rsruss quizzically. I attempted to utter words from my aching mouth. "Why was there a doctor here? A _human _doctor?"

"There were very few of our brothers who never would offer assistance. They were to worried for what they call 'honor'. So I hired a human medical technician to find out what it is." Rsruss looked back to where the doctor exited through the door way. "What he has told may be of some help as to why these things happening to you are going on. The 'snack machine' incident is no exception."

"Wait...you think _I _caused it somehow."

"Not you exactly, but what appears to be lightning coming from your hands and what-not is probably just a glitch in the camera, considering you were never harmed."

"Wait...what?"

"Static emanated from your palm as you touched the machine." She pulled up the datapad, and I observed curiously. Of course what she said was true, it appeared some electrical discharge came from my hands.

"Why would something...Forerunners this week has gotten _stranger and stranger_." Suddenly, a burst of pain shot down my arms. Thankfully nothing shot out, but I had to peak at what happened, and the pain seemed to stay over my skin. Thee, on my wrist and palms, were more tattoos, Forerunner symbols.

"What the hell is going on?"


	7. Chapter 6

**THE ACTION FINALLY PICKS UP YAY!1!1!11**

Chapter 6

The pain had subdued enough for me to relax a bit, but it still kept me awake. I couldn't sleep. My mind was constantly wondering now. Who was the man in the suit? What were those metallic being that killed the brutes in my dream. Why do I have these tattoos?

Then the alarm started. Red lights flashed all over the ship. The intercom sounded loudly, and a robotic voice of the Artificial Intelligence filled the rooms and hallways.

"WARNING: INCOMING SPACE OBJECT HEADING FOR OUR PORT SIDE. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."

I hopped out of bed out of instinct, and threw on my armor. A plasma pistol they left for me was hanging in the secure weapons locker in the barracks. I grabbed it and headed for out the hallway. It was crowded with unorganized Human and Sangheili soldiers, both escorting nurses and civilians of multiple races.

A window in the hallway, which I was nearly pushed up against. I looked out the window briefly to see a large silver ship flash by. I turned my head to see alongside the ship to see the alien looking ship latch to the purple alloy of our ship. It was angular and unique, with the haze of a shield on it's frame. It seemed oddly familiar.

I felt the familiar warm touch of Rsruss' hand over mine again. She was pulling me away from the glass. I then knew why.

A large metal figure shot from the ship to the window. It's talons slammed through the glass and fractured it. For a second, I felt myself being pulled into space, but Rsruss managed to grip an incline between the wall and floor panel. The atmosphere left past us, as did other silent screaming people.

The thing jumped into the ship before the blast doors shut over it. It hissed, and cocked it's head sideways. Some strange language came from it, robotic and alien. "Forma vitae deprehendi. Et occiderent homines Asperges squid et ora. Find paschali libo ova. Placenta enim mendacium."

It pulled what appeared to be an arm at us, and it's three eyes, a large one on one side of it's face and the two on another, all turned a dark red. Symbols ran ups it's back and arms, a large one on it's chest and it's larger eye.

In it's metal finger held what looked like a strange gun similar to a plasma rifle. It pulled it's finger on the trigger twice, and two of the humans were hit. The plasma just melted through their skin, and steam rose from the caterized and burnt wounds. It then turned to us, and fired again.

Like always, we were too quick for it, and ducked under the blue pellet shaped bolts. I shoved Rsruss to the side, then ran to the machine a rolled under it's legs. I pulled my rifle up shot at the robot. The rifle bolts just bounced off harmlessly or was absorbed by the shields. It turned around and staired straight at me. Again, it pulled up the gun, quicker this time, and fired a barage of plasma. Slowly, my shields flared up, then burst. The short EMP seemed to disable the robot's too. I was lucky to have improved armor.

I swung my foot up into the thing's face, an the glass on it's eyes cracked and metal dented in. But it didn't slow down. It grabbed my foot mid air, and flung me at the blastshield. Pain weld up in my head again. I lloked in Rsruss direction. "Run!" I screamed. The robot stepped closer to me, but Rsruss stayed still. "I said run!"

She shook her head. She ran at the robot and tackled it. It grabbed her leg and hung her upside down, and aimed the alien rifle for her head. I swung my body around and into the gun, which flew out of the machine's grip. I punched it and it flew towards the opposite wall.

A noticed a glow out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see a pile of fusion coils. I ran to the pile and picked up one of them oever my head. I flung it at the robot. I missed, and it hit the ceiling above the thing's head. Peices of shrapnel came down and engulfed it. All that remained was it's head on the top of the pile, stabbed through with a pipe.

Rsruss ran right to me and held me for a second. I glided one of my hands along her navy-blue armor. She said right beside my head, "What was that?"

"I don't know, but atleast we're still alive." She pulled herself away from me, and staired down at the pile of rubble. She then looked up. "We should leave immediately."

"It's likely there are no evac ships left," I turned to her, slight fear in my gut, "and more of those thing could be on this ship."

"Well there no point staying." She bent over and lifted the alien rifle in her hand. We heard more metallic footsteps coming our way.

"Keep close." I said. I lifted my own plasma rifle for one of the hallways. We continued down the hallway towards the closest hangar. The footsteps were behind us, coming out of different hallways. Still, we managed to stay ahead of them.

We turned to another room along our path, which was an armory. I looed around the room, seeing rows of good weapons to salvage, yet too late to do so. I walked oer and picked up what appeared to be a beam rifle. I turned the weapon to check if it had it's battery. It didn't so I grabbed a few from a large crate beside the rack. I looked next to me and saw Rsruss doing the same thing, except she had holstered a concussion rifle along with a plasma repeater.

We finally heard the footsteps behind us again get louder, so we dashed out of the armory loaded with our prefered weapons.

I saw more silver at the end of the hallway, and pulled my rifle up. The scope fit perfectly over my eye, and fired. A loud piercing sound rang through the air from the heated laser. I heard the sound of the head shatter as bolts hit the floor. I saw the sparks on the floor in my scope. All were signs that the thing was dead.

I waved Rsruss behind me. I took stepped foreward once more down the hallway. The clattering still continued, and I got nervous feelings. I checked the vent entrances, making sure nothing was crawling through them.

"What are you doing?" Asked Rsruss, curious.

"Making sure nothing comes in and attacks us." I removed a vent cover and looked in suspiciously. I reattached it and melted it shut with bolt from my plasma rifle.

"What makes you think-" She around when she heard more metallic tapping. I looked up.

"Rsruss, would you mind taking two steps to the left?" I wonder why I said it, but I guess instinct are involved. She did as I said, and just soon enough, a relatively large spider-like creature drilled it's way through a vent cover with it a blue laser. It hissed horrifically, and hopped at one of us. I hopped in front of rsruss, where the bot was heading, and grabbed it's compound robotic eyes with my fist. I tightened my fist, and scrap fell from the wreckage.

Another bounced from the same vent, but I managed too late. It wrapped it's spiny legs around my head, I could barely see. So, idiotically, I slammed my head in the wall. The thing vibrated alot, and my head thronned with pain. I brushed the peices off my forehead, and unhinged some attached to my helmet.

Rsruss had a confused look on her face, but shook it away. She lifted her concussion rifle to the vent and fired once. I gusess it sealed it off for good.

"Now tell me: Why did I meet you?"

"Well let's see, it was coindidental in a locker room-"

"That was retoracal. You're crazy, but cute. Come on," She said, lifting her gun to shoulder height, "let's blow some shit up."

We'd reahed the cockpit in no time. The hangar was still a few clicks futher. The cockpit was burried within the ship, tucked away so it was never hit directly.

The flashing panels were shut off suriously. A single red panel blinked a 'OFFLINE'. I'm guessing that if the ship were to go into self destruct, they couldn't because the controls were powered down. We had to reactivate them. But first, we needed the code.

I wasn't the best hacking expert, but I didn't know about Rsruss. I saw she was kneeling underneath one of the control pads, the front of ther feet were flattened against the floor. I heard a zap, and the panel lit up again. "Got it." She said. Ok, now she's a techy.

She pulled herself out and leened over the keepad. Her fingers wizzed by so fast I thought she was typing them simaltaneously. She spoke over her shoulder, "I had always wanted to work with computers. My parent wouldn't let me, saying I was 'lazy and too indoors oriented'. I spent hours every day working on our computer at home." As she typed in more lines of code, she rested a hip on the edge of the seat behind her. "My parents forced me to become a soldier because they were too worried about my fitness and health."

"Do you still do stuff with the computers here?" I asked.

"Hell yeh I do. You can probably guess where I go most of the time when we aren't on these babies. This thing I'm using now is a Hyanra Code Efficiency Platform, used for maintaining ship control and security." She pressed in the final key, then waited for it to load.. "You know, the names of Covenant technology aren't as much of a mouth-full as the human's. They prefer acronyms. Hah, got it." tHe loading bar filled and revealed a long written mess.

Our was staring in aw. _Rsruss is a nerd?_ I looked at the screen, where everything was in a strange code I couldn't recognize. She scrolled to the very bottom, and written familiarly was 'Pull me from the tank, awaken the forgotten soul.'

Rsruss turned around and stared at the a single hologram pedestla in the middle of the room, next to a Shipmaster's chair. "Ausha was the Artificial Intelligence that runs the runs this ship. She might be helpful getting us out of this situation." I walked over to the holotank and gingerly pulled from it a small crystal chip from it's side. I held it up the chip so Rsruss could see it.

"Well, atleast it's undamaged. I guessing these machines deactivated the ship controls as well as isolating the the AI." There was a short pause. "Well, go ahead."

"Go ahead what?"

"Insert the chip into your armor. The AI will reboot then communicate to us from your armor."

"It can do that?" I stared at the chip hesitantly. "You know, my armor isn't that great..."

"It's a Mark Eighteen Combat Harness, with a built in Data Crystal reciever. This technology was given to us by humans. Why not use it?"

I helt around to the back of my helmet, feeling for the fitting slot. I felt the space of the small rectangle, and inserted the chip. Rsruss said, "The AI cannot fully be inserted into your brain, which is not augmented for that use. However, she will communicate to both of us through your armor's speakers."

"Really?"

"What can I say? We love the human's stuff. It's legit."

I finally heard a chime, signalling that the AI had finished loading. A cold voice rang in my ears through the suits inner speakers. A cold female voice, the words were sharp to stab you if you wished so.

"Hello. I am Ausha, Smart Plasmic AI. I guess I have failed my mission to not protect the ship from the new visitors. My new mission: Escape with all data and Classified information intact."

"Alright, Ausha. Can you show us the way out?" I asked. Of course, I knew where to go, but I was just testing the AI's accuracy.

I saw a white, glowing trail run along the floor out of the room. I pointed at it. "Do you see that, Ru?"

"See what?"

"The glowing trail leaving the room."

"Ausha has been known to be quite of showing a waypoint on your hud, she gives you an exact path, or atleast, hinting it."

I watched as the path faded away after a short time. I pulled my weapon up again as I heard more clanking metal. Where the path was directed, a pair of the machines appeared, alien rifles clenched in their claws.

They pulled the triggers, and began firing upon us. We hopped behind cover. Sparks flew over our heads and the piercing sound of plasma rang through the room. Rsruss leaned out of cover and fired a Cuncussion shot at the enemies.

The robots flew into shards of metal and scattered around the entryway. She helped me up and we bolted on our way to the hangar.


End file.
